Five reasons Milwaukee landed the 2020 Democratic Convention

Milwaukee Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry (left) is introduced by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett as U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore looks on during the official announcement that Milwaukee will host the 2020 Democratic National Convention.(Photo: Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

The campaign was long and the competition was fierce.

But in the end — with intense planning, hard work and a little bit of luck — Milwaukee overcame Houston and Miami to land the 2020 Democratic Convention.

Here are five reasons Democrats will be coming to Milwaukee, July 13-16, 2020, to nominate their presidential candidate.

Denver dropped out

Eight cities were originally asked to submit bids for the convention. When the list was cut to the final four, Denver was on it. But the city, which hosted the 2008 convention, quickly dropped out, saying it already had too many events scheduled for the convention dates picked by the Democrats.

There's no way to know what would have happened had Denver stayed in the race. But by pulling out, it meant that Milwaukee only had two competitors, instead of three. And suddenly, with that little bit of luck, Milwaukee found itself the favorite.

Houston and Miami had strong bids, but ...

Houston and Miami had lots of fancy hotels, first-rate convention facilities and vast experience hosting big events like the Super Bowl. Houston pitched its diversity and its potential role in helping Democrats try to flip Texas from the Republicans. Miami also stressed its diversity and place in the battleground state of Florida.

But each city had some drawbacks, and they didn't just involve steamy summer weather or the convention dates landing at the beginning of hurricane season.

With Democrats stressing environmental issues and the battle against climate change, Houston struggled against the perception that the city would be overly reliant on money from the oil and gas industry. The city was also having labor problems with local firefighters.

With bid chair Alex Lasry, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee, the city chose an understated, just-the-facts approach.

The bid wasn't about glitz. It was about the nuts and bolts of facilities, hotels and the compact nature of what Milwaukee was offering. The physical heart of the bid encompassed the stretch from the Wisconsin Center to UW Panther Arena and Miller High Life Theatre to Fiserv Forum.

But there was a political heart, too. The committee made the case to Democrats that Wisconsin would be vital in the presidential race, especially after President Donald Trump won here in 2016. The city's union heritage also played a role as Democrats came to see Milwaukee as embodying the spirit of working families.

CLOSE

Chairman Tom Perez announces Milwaukee as the city to host the 2020 Democratic National convention.
Bill Schulz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Fiserv Forum was a game changer

Milwaukee had one thing that Houston and Miami didn't — a new, state-of-the-art arena. In a lot of ways, a convention is a giant television show and the arena is a studio with the drama provided by the speakers at the platform and the delegates in the audience. The bid put a premium on the flexible spaces inside and outside the arena, enabling Democrats to envision a convention of their dreams.

Money mattered

OK, nobody really likes talking about money in politics. But the biggest surprise of all is that Milwaukee's local bid committee was able to get $11 million in fundraising commitments, more than either Miami or Houston, which each met the minimum threshold of $5 million. There's still a long way to go for the local bid committee to raise up to $70 million.